The World Bank has said that catastrophic monsoon flooding linked to climate change may push between six and nine million Pakistanis into poverty.

Unprecedented monsoon rains that hit Pakistan this year resulting in 1,700 fatalities, two million destroyed homes, and a third of the country being under water.

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In shabby tent cities and dispersed settlements close to the still waters that devoured their possessions and way of life, eight million people are still without a home.

“The recent floods are expected to have a substantial negative impact on Pakistan’s economy and on the poor, mostly through the disruption of agricultural production,” said Najy Benhassine, the World Bank’s Country Director for Pakistan. “The Government must strike a balance in meeting extensive relief and recovery needs, while staying on track with overdue macroeconomic reforms. It will be more important than ever to carefully target relief to the poor, constrain the fiscal deficit within sustainable limits, maintain a tight monetary policy stance, ensure continued exchange rate flexibility, and make progress on critical structural reforms, especially those in the energy sector.”

As many as 33 million people of the 220 million South Asian nation have been affected in some way by the floods that swept away houses, roads, railways and bridges and submerged around 4 million acres of farmland.